The Egyptian president's new power grab is hardly unexpected given the modus operandi of the Muslim Brotherhood, writes Eric Trager of the New Republic.

The Brotherhood, in other words, does not tolerate pluralism—it methodically works to extinguish it. In this vein, when a number of its most prominent youth activists— including organizers of the January 2011 anti-Mubarak uprising—disagreed with the Brotherhood’s decision to form a single political party after last year’s revolution, they were banished. Similarly, when longtime Brotherhood leader Abdel Monem Abouel Fotouh decided to run for president at a time when the organization had decided against fielding a candidate, he was banished. And when some Brotherhood youths supported Abouel Fotouh’s campaign, they were banished as well.

Writing in the National Interest, Rafael D. Frankel argues that the eruptions of violence between Israel and Hamas are part of an ongoing cycle.

Unlike strategic deterrence, a paradigm of total deterrence such as that which existed between the United States and Soviet Union, tactical deterrence is not perfect. Rather, it is defined by dramatically reduced rates and types of violence by the non-state group, punctuated by periods of fighting where the defending state must “update” its deterrence. The state does so by reminding the challenging non-state group that it must “settle down” or risk serious, long-term damage. In the case of Israel’s deterrence against Hamas and Hezbollah, this fits the pattern of some kind of major escalation once or twice per decade.

Controlling its air, sea and land borders, Israel cannot disavow its responsibilities to the Gaza Strip, writes Akiva Eldar in Al-Monitor.

According to international humanitarian law, the "effective control" of territory that a country acquires beyond its sovereign boundaries as a result of an armed conflict does not mandate a permanent military presence throughout all sections of the occupied regions. Israel continues its absolute rule over the continental borders of the Strip, its airspace, coasts and marine space. This control has direct implications on the ability of the Gaza Strip inhabitants to conduct their lives. Therefore, Israel continues to bear responsibility for the residents of the Gaza Strip and for any of its failures that adversely affect the human rights of these residents.

lmost single-handedly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have wrenched the world's attention toward the apocalyptic potential of a nuclear Iran. "Today a great battle is being waged between the modern and the medieval," Netanyahu said at the United Nations in September. "At stake is not merely the future of my country. At stake is the future of the world."

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